The crime of killing someone is now turned into a battle of narratives where the only other person who could challenge the narrative is dead, and millions of people simply believe that the unarmed black man deserved his fate.

The election of Barack Obama was the Lexington and Concord in the latest great battle of race in America. We are a nation at war with itself. For all of our desire to move beyond the narrow confines of many of the events of our tragic history, we cannot. The president's election gave new life to what had been lying dangerously dormant for the better part of 50 years.

f I put myself completely in the shoes of Trayvon Martin or Michael Brown, or even a black man denied the opportunity to board a taxi cab, I must accept the reality that my world and my America isn't their world and their America.

For the majority of unarmed black folks who everyday fear for their lives, despite them doing nothing wrong, my advice to you is stop leaving the house unarmed. Arm yourself with knowledge of the system, civics and politics

Despite good grades, accomplishments, pleasant manners and common sense, many of our sons are seen as aggressive or prone to violence. When they transgress, as kids will always do, they are judged on a double standard.

It's time to listen to the hopes and fears of all Americans. It's time to recognize the injustices that we must eliminate to ensure all Americans can pursue their dreams. And we must do it before the rage our nation has witnessed permanently supplants hope.

What is needed is exactly what the Kerner Commission recommended to the country 46 years ago: a comprehensive shift in the priorities of our social spending away from the military-industrial-prison complex and toward widespread development of impoverished parts of America.

The history of the prosecution of alleged perpetrators of violence against African American victims brought about with heavy public and political pressure hasn't been good for the alleged victims and those who conducted the prosecution.

There needs to be an organized national movement that proposes and lobbies for policy changes in law enforcements that need it and then in the state legislatures, Governor's Mansions, and Congress. Let the deaths of Martin, Garner, Bell, Grant, and countless others not be in vain.

The politics of respectability in the black community may not only hinder us from acting and engaging in the constructive protest, lobbying and collective action needed to create a more just society, as it has with respect to the Ferguson protests, but it may also prevent us from simply being and living freely.

Aggressively punitive and extreme drug policies are steeped in racism. Inherent in the response to drug law enforcement is a biased approach and stark double standards in the perceived threat of drug use by marginalized people.

About Trayvon Martin

Trayvon Martin was an unarmed, 16-year-old who was killed by a neighborhood watch member as he walked to his father's home in a gated community.
The case has gained national attention, as George Zimmerman, the man who admitted to shooting and killing him, was not initially arrested or charged. After nearly 6 weeks and considerable public outcry, prosecutors charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder in the case, which has become a flashpoint in the conversations about racial profiling and gun laws.
See a timeline of events for the Trayvon Martin case here.